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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The New Mexico Lobos were looking to continue their winning ways in Conference USA play when they hosted the Charlotte 49ers (4-3-3, 0-1-2 C-USA) Friday evening at the UNM Soccer Complex. The two sides played 110 minutes without a goal as New Mexico (5-3-2, 1-0-1 C-USA) remained undefeated in conference play.

The 49ers and the Lobos played a scoreless first half as both teams combined to take just five shots. UNM goalkeeper, Michael Lisch, made a pair of saves in the first half. James Rogers took both of New Mexico’s shot, which included a shot from inside the six-yard box that forced a save from Charlotte’s Klay Davis.

Coach Fishbein and the Lobos had early opportunities when Ben McKendry missed wide on a shot less than nine minutes into the half. The Lobos looked to have the match’s first goal when Josh Dye unleashed a pinpoint shot from outside the box, but the goal was whistled off on a foul call just before Dye’s strike.

Michael Lisch recorded a game-protecting save in the 68th minute when Charlotte was awarded a free kick just outside of the box. Lisch saved Guiseppe Gentile’s blast through a crowded box.

The shot total was even between the two teams through both overtime periods as the match ended in a scoreless draw.

“I think we’ll take some positives away on the defensive end. It was just a weird night for us. For some reason, we weren’t clicking offensively. We had a lot of fight to us. That (Charlotte) was a team that played with a lot of purpose. Unless you were going to be real good with the ball, they were going to cause you some problems.” – Head Coach Jeremy Fishbein

“We got to keep pushing and keep fighting. I think we’re going to get our rhythm back offensively and we got some big games ahead of us. So, we got some things to be excited about.”

“I thought our backline of Miele, Venter, Gibbo and Oniel were great. They were winning headers and just kept fighting. I was really proud of them. They put a lot of pressure denying serves and there was a lot of good effort.” – Goalkeeper Michael Lisch

Notes

Friday night’s meeting was the first-ever match between the Lobos and 49ers.

Michael Lisch’s four saves was a season high for the first-year New Mexico goalkeeper. It was also the senior’s fourth shutout of the season.

The scoreless draw was just the 28th tie in Head Coach Jeremy Fishbein’s tenure at New Mexico. It was the238th match in Fishbein’s twelfth season in Albuquerque.

Next Up

New Mexico will return to the road next week. The Lobos have a mid-week match-up at Tulsa on Wednesday evening.